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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Rackhir" data-source="post: 4127372" data-attributes="member: 149">1) Don't bother recording what everyone did every round. Just try to give a feel of the flow of combat. If something notable happened (a crit, particularly damaging series of attacks, a spell that changed the course of combat, etc...) note that. Spells are a bit easier since if someone knows what the spell does it, just using the name, effectively conveys a lot of what it does. Be descriptive and flavorful in what you write. If you can do that well it will be a much better read than if you mindlessly relate every last detail of what happened.Web boards like some of the private forums on EN World are a great way to deal with a lot of non-combat stuff. Not only do people "speak" better if they have a chance to think about and revise stuff, but it greatly eases the task of writing it up for the SH.2) Have a point of view. A story told by someone who brings personality to what's told is infinitely more interesting than a series of mindless details. "The Chronicles of Burne and some others of lesser importance" in my sig, is a classic example of this. The guy writing Burne doesn't even try to pretend that he's giving an accurate account of what happened, but does try to drop hints for the readers as to what is really happening. Particularly through the commentary of Burne's familiar Abraxis.3) A constant, regular series of short updates is much better than infrequent massive updates. It's like weekly TV, if it's on and new, people are more likely to read it than if it shows up at random times and they're never sure if it's something new. If they know that you will update it regularly they are more likely to read it. If nothing else endurance increases the odds that people will notice it and check it out. Especially if you can keep it on the first page on a regular basis.Something on the order of a weekly update is probably ideal.Expect this to consume a significant amount of time. Probably a minimum of 3-4 hours for the write up for a single session.Get someone else to proof read you. Shil is an english teacher and grades papers for a living. Yet I regularly manage to find mistakes or clumsy statements (not a lot admittedly) that just slip by him. It also helps to keep the story straight, if someone else is making sure you didn't miss anything important.4) Write it for yourself and your players. If you are doing this in the hope that it will bring you fame, fortune and the adulation of people on EN World, then don't bother. The odds that anyone outside of your group is going to pay attention to it are small. They do improve though, if people recognize your name or you've managed to accumulate a rep on EN World, like Shil has to some degree.Your players will pay close attention to anything that you write that talks about their characters. This also usually means they don't pay any attention to anything else in the SH though. Mentioning the characters and their accomplishments, is a good way to stroke the ego of the players and to encourage them to participate and develop interesting characters. But try not to play favorites.</blockquote>

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